A global study last month, by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), found British teenagers are less happy with their lives than other nations such as Latvia, Germany and France. Girls were less likely to be satisfied with their life than boys, and were more prone to worry about exams. Around three quarters of British students were said to feel anxious in the classroom, compared to a global average of 55 per cent.

Dr Richard Graham, a child and adolescent consultant psychiatrist at the Nightingale Hospital, says this is now a growing phenomenon that many young people are receiving treatment for. “Anxiety around school and university has always been there, but it’s rising,” he explains. “The pressure to keep attaining is growing in young people and the student population.”

“It’s also linked to the explosion of tech and social media which changes awareness but also creates enormous uncertainty in terms of finding your place in the future. Young people have a tremendous need to keep improving and reinventing themselves, like we see with social media. It’s embedded in our culture to keep pushing and tracking your self-improvement.”